~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Oklahoma's latest farm and ranch news
Your Update from Ron Hays of RON for Thursday December 16,
2010 A
service of Producers Cooperative Oil Mill, Midwest Farm Shows and KIS
Futures!
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-- Senate Shoots GOP-Obama Tax Deal to the House on the Strength of
an 81 to 19 Vote
-- Wayne Pacelle and HSUS Target Smithfield Foods With Their Latest
Undercover Video
-- Higher Placements and On Feed Numbers Predicted for Friday's
Cattle on Feed Report
-- Beck Johnson named 2010 Oklahoma Certified Crop Adviser of the
Year
-- How Many Heifers to Keep??
-- Wheat Exports Continue to Look Strong Into New Calendar Year
-- If I Had the Talent- I'd Make It Rhyme- We Send Birthday Greetings
to a Legend Turned 99!
-- Let's Check the Markets!
Howdy Neighbors! Here's your morning farm news headlines from the Director of Farm Programming for the Radio Oklahoma Network, Ron Hays. We are proud to have KIS Futures as a regular sponsor of our daily email update. KIS Futures provides Oklahoma Farmers & Ranchers with futures & options hedging services in the livestock and grain markets- Click here for the free market quote page they provide us for our website or call them at 1-800-256-2555. We are also excited to have as one of our sponsors for the daily email
Producers Cooperative Oil Mill, with 64 years of progress through
producer ownership. Call Brandon Winters at 405-232-7555 for more
information on the oilseed crops they handle, including sunflowers and
canola- and remember they post closing market prices for canola and
sunflowers on the PCOM
website- go there by clicking here. If you have received this by someone forwarding it to you, you are welcome to subscribe and get this weekday update sent to you directly by clicking here. | |
Senate Shoots GOP-Obama Tax Deal to the House on the Strength of an 81 to 19 Vote ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ A far-reaching
$858 billion tax plan negotiated by the White House and Republican leaders
sailed through the Senate on Wednesday and was headed for a vote Thursday
in the House, as lawmakers rushed to prevent a New Year's tax hike from
striking virtually every American household. For agriculture, two issues are riding along with the so called Bush Tax Cuts- a fix for the estate tax and biofuel credits that are being extended under the deal pulled together by the GOP and the President. We talked Wednesday evening with Colin Woodall of the National
Cattlemen's Beef Association- while they don't like the ethanol tax
credits being extended- the overriding issue for them is the deal to
provide Death Tax relief. We have our conversation that we had shortly before midnight on Wednesday evening with Colin Woodall of the NCBA on our website- www.OklahomaFarmReport.Com- he had been working the Death Tax issue since very early yesterday morning. Click on the LINK below and check it out. | |
Wayne Pacelle and HSUS Target Smithfield Foods With Their Latest Undercover Video ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ The Humane
Society of the United States is asking Smithfield Foods to honor its
commitment made in January, 2007 to convert its gestation-sow housing
system from stalls to pens over a course of 10-years. The severe economic
downturn that hit U.S. agriculture and the pork industry in particular
from 2007 through early this year has delayed that course and Smithfield
says it will not reach its goal. Smithfield is the world's largest pork
producer.
Wayne Pacelle, President and CEO of the Humane Society of the United
States, says - now that Smithfield has just posted its highest-ever
quarterly profit, it's a good time to make a public pledge to honor its
previous commitment. According to Pacelle, - the company can no longer
claim that economic circumstances don't allow for facility improvements.
In a statement, Smithfield says its number one priority is care and safety of its hogs and its employees. The company has hired renowned animal welfare expert Temple Grandin to review the events depicted in the video and recommend changes to its animal well-being procedures. | |
Higher Placements and On Feed Numbers Predicted for Friday's Cattle on Feed Report ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ The final
Cattle on Feed Report of the year is scheduled to be released on Friday
afternoon, December 17, 2010. Rich Nelson of Allendale is one of several
analysts that offer a preview of what they think the report may
indicate.According to Nelson, November Placements are expected to be 8.3% larger than last year. This represents four months in a row of higher placements. Cow/calf producers continue to liquidate. This means high cow slaughter and reduced heifer retention. Those heifers are flooding the sale barn and the feedlot. Cattle feeders are now looking at breakevens at around $98 currently. December corn futures averaged 545 1/2 in October and rose 6 3/4 to 552 1/4 in November. Cattle placed in November will be marketed from April through August. Allendale anticipates a Marketing total 10.3% larger than November of
2009. 5.1% of that increase was due to one more weekday in 2010 versus
last year. Weekly slaughters will remain larger than last year into early
summer. Our Beef Buzz for this Thursday is featuring comments from Dr. Derrell Peel of OSU on the upcoming COF numbers- click on the LINK below to find out his thoughts about this final feedlot nose count of the year. | |
Beck Johnson named 2010 Oklahoma Certified Crop Adviser of the Year ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Beck Johnson,
Johnson Agronomics, Inc., Weatherford was awarded the 2010 Oklahoma
Certified Crop Adviser of the Year at the Oklahoma Certified Crop Adviser
(CCA) annual meeting held at Oklahoma State University yesterday at their
noon luncheon. This award was based on 30 years of crop advising
experience recognizing him as a certified crop adviser who delivers
exceptional customer service, is highly innovative, has shown that he is a
leader in his field, and has contributed substantially to the exchange of
ideas and the transfer of agronomic knowledge within the agriculture
industry.
Beck consults 40-50 producers in Blaine, Caddo, Washita and Custer counties on 8,000-10,000 acres providing independent research based recommendation on dry land crops including: wheat, milo, cotton, canola and alfalfa as well as irrigated crops including: corn, soybeans, cotton, peanuts, watermelons, spinach, mustard and collard greens, potatoes, peas and various vegetable crops. Congrats to Beck- who by the way is an alum of the Oklahoma Ag Leadership Program. Click on the LINK below for more details about his crop consulting business and the award he received on Wednesday. Click here for more on Beck Johnson, the 2010 Oklahoma Certified Crop Advisor of the Year | |
How Many Heifers to Keep?? ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Much is
currently being written about the need to re-grow the nation's cow herd.
Individual ranches must make the decisions about heifer retention based
upon factors that directly affect their bottom-line. Dr. Glenn Selk of the
OSU Animal Science Department offers us some ideas of how we answer the
question above.
Matching the number of cattle to the grass and feed resources on the ranch is a constant challenge for any cow-calf producer. Also producers strive to maintain cow numbers to match their marketing plans for the long term changes in the cattle cycle. Therefore it is a constant struggle to evaluate the number of replacement heifers that must be developed or purchased to bring into the herd each year. As a starting place in the effort to answer this question, it is
important to look at the "average" cow herd to understand how many cows
are in each age category. Dr. Kris Ringwall, director of the Dickinson,
North Dakota Research and Extension Center recently reported on the
average number of cows in their research herd by age group for the last 20
years. Ringwall's research indicates that the typical herd will, "on the
average", introduce 17% new first calf heifers each year. Stated another
way, if 100 cows are expected to produce a calf each year, 17 of them will
be having their first baby. Click here for more of the answer to the question- How Many Heifers? | |
Wheat Exports Continue to Look Strong Into New Calendar Year ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Wheat export
expectations continue to look very strong for the current marketing year
as we wind down 2010 and look into the early part of 2011- so says the
President of US Wheat Associates, Alan Tracy. Right at harvest time in
Oklahoma and into southern Kansas, price and export prospects were bleak
with the export market being incredibly picky about protein discounts. By
the latter part of July, the situation was rapidly changing and it has
remained much more bullish for wheat sales since that point.
We caught up with Alan Tracy at the Oklahoma Wheat Growers Association and talked with him about the current strength of the market, what he was hearing at a major buyers conference in South Africa right around Thanksgiving as well as what lies ahead for US wheat exports as we make preparations for biotech wheat. Click on the LINK below to jump to our web story with Alan Tracy- and a chance to listen to our conversation with him this past Saturday while he was in Oklahoma City for the annual meeting of the Oklahoma Wheat Growers Association. Click here for our conversation with Alan Tracy of US Wheat Associates. | |
If I Had the Talent- I'd Make It Rhyme- We Send Birthday Greetings to a Legend Turned 99! ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ There are very
few legends in any business, but one gentleman that qualifies in my chosen
profession is Russell Pierson, who turned 99 on Wednesday of this week.
Russell was a county agent turned farm broadcaster for one of the
legendary radio stations (and later TV) in the country, WKY Radio in
Oklahoma City. The 930 signal covered a lot of the state- and coupled with
the TV signal of Channel 4 in Oklahoma City- meant that this legend held
court in the business of farm news and market dissemination for several
decades.
Before his retirement from first the TV and then the Radio- Russell was known his sharp wit, ability to explain the farm news of the day and his end of the program poems about all sorts of subjects. Since his retirement from Gaylord Broadcasting, he has kept busy with the hay and bedding concession at the State Fair Park in Oklahoma City. When I first came to Oklahoma City in 1977, it was Russell Pierson and
Ken Root on Channel 4 and WKY Radio and Bill Hare and Wayne Liles on
Channel 9 (where I have landed all these years later). These men-
especially Russell, Bill and Wayne (sorry Ken- you were a lot closer in
age to me and so not quite in that upper atmosphere compared to other 3)
were bigger than life. They were loved by their farm and ranch audiences-
and while they were competitors- I never detected a bit of meanness when
we all ended up together at some event. | |
Our thanks to Midwest Farms Shows, PCOM, P & K Equipment/ P & K Wind Energy, Johnston Enterprises, American Farmers & Ranchers, KIS Futures and Big Iron Online Auctions for their support of our daily Farm News Update. For your convenience, we have our sponsors' websites linked here- just click on their name to jump to their website- check their sites out and let these folks know you appreciate the support of this daily email, as their sponsorship helps us keep this arriving in your inbox on a regular basis- FREE! We also invite you to check out our website at the link below to check out an archive of these daily emails, audio reports and top farm news story links from around the globe. | |
Let's Check the Markets! ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ We've had
requests to include Canola prices for your convenience here- and we will
be doing so on a regular basis. Current cash price for Canola is $9.50 per
bushel, while the 2010 New Crop contracts for Canola are now available are
$10.20 per bushel- delivered to local participating elevators that are
working with PCOM.
Here are some links we will leave in place on an ongoing basis- Click
on the name of the report to go to that link: | |
God Bless! You can reach us at the following: ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
email: ron@oklahomafarmreport.com
phone: 405-473-6144
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